Theatre touring 'in crisis' as performances of plays drop 70%

The touring landscape for theatre, music, dance and opera is "in crisis" in England and much of the sector needs "urgent corrective action if it is to survive", a major report has concluded.

Performances of drama plays on tour have seen the biggest drop, declining by almost three-quarters between 2019 and 2024, according to the State of Touring report, which was commissioned by Arts Council England.

"This steep decline is a long-term and continuing trend, which is likely to reach a critical level without intervention," it said.

Overall, the system is "not entirely broken", the report said, but many tours have become shorter and more concentrated in bigger cities.

"Touring is generally in best health at the large scale: large music acts or musical theatre, in larger venues, and in larger urban areas," it said.

Overall, the number of touring performances declined by 24% between 2019 and 2024.

For drama plays, that figure was 72%, while musicals and dance each had reductions of almost 50%.

The report said: "Mid-scale drama and dance, and smaller scale productions, work by disabled and Global Majority artists, emerging artists, and innovative work face the greatest financial challenge, have decreased most and are most at risk."

Touring companies and venues have faced increased costs and decreased income, while existing challenges have been "accelerated and exacerbated by the pandemic and funding austerity", it said.

Much of the sector "needs not just a sticking plaster but urgent corrective action", the report said.

"It is hard not to conclude that touring needs a radical rethink... Without change it is likely that a substantial proportion of touring will decline or stop.

"But trying to plug the gaps piecemeal, without quite enough resourcing to fix them all, is likely just to prolong the decline."

Arts Council England needs "a new strategic vision for touring", and touring organisations should collaborate and innovate more, according to the report's authors the Audience Agency.

They analysed event and audience data and spoke to several hundred people in the industry. They included Theatre Royal Plymouth, which is quoted as saying "producing new work independently is increasingly challenging".

The cut-backs have implications for opportunities for new talent, among other things, the venue said.

"Without small-scale opportunities, early career artists struggle to develop the skills and confidence required to scale up to larger stages," the venue warned, according to the report.

Hannah Lake, Arts Council England's director of touring transformation, said touring is "vital, both to our cultural ecology, and to audiences across the country".

"But rising costs and a difficult funding environment have hit hard. We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to rethink how we support and invest in touring."

The organisation will launch a new Touring Service to deliver "a simpler, streamlined and more efficient system for funding touring activity, meaning our investment can go further", she said.

"It will allow us to serve the touring ecology better, giving organisations the confidence they need to innovate, collaborate, and continue to tour and present brilliant work to audiences nationally and internationally."

The Local Theatre Touring Alliance welcomed the report, which it said "provides important and timely evidence of the pressures facing touring across theatre, dance and music, particularly in venues outside major urban centres".

"It confirms what many in the sector have been experiencing: increasing challenges in securing viable deals, sustaining audience demand and managing rising costs within existing touring models," a statement said.

The alliance was set up last year and said it was "pleased to be referenced within the report's response as part of the emerging sector-wide effort to address these challenges".